Floating and Dropping

We have been practicing ukimi and chinshin of late. Ukimi means “floating” and chinshin means “dropping.”   The latter is easier to grasp, as it utilizes gravity and the hips to take you effortlessly and quickly into a strong low-stance. Ukimi is the opposite – rising into a high-stance, but instead of pushing up from the legs, using the center of the body, specifically the tanden, as a kind of ballast, almost like a puppet being pulled up from above by a string.  

In the Gekisai kata (Gekisai #1 and #2), going from the second position into the shikodachi stance of position three is an example of where chinshin is employed. Another would be the first three shikodachi of Saifa.

It is important to keep the body core and tanden tensed, and block as you drop into the low shikodachi stance.  

One should also try to use ukimi and chinshin while using chiishi  as shown on the left – when rising out of and dropping into shikodachi each time.